Grindelwald, Bernese Alps, Switzerland
by Steve Roti

At the end of a trip it's fun to think back over the days and try to pick out favorite places and events. In the case of the Euro 2002 trip we visited many wonderful places and had dozens of scenic flights so it's hard to pick a favorite, but if pressed the place I would pick is Grindelwald and the day I would pick is July 8, our last day there.

During the previous two days of flying we had gotten to know the First launch and the standard soaring areas on the north side of the valley fairly well, but we hadn't done any cross-country flights yet so we were hoping July 8 would be the day. Also, the previous evening while driving the van down the hill to pick up wayward pilots I had chanced to give a ride to a German family and when they expressed interest in paragliding I had offered them tandem flights if they showed up at the Berghaus Bort, our hotel located at the midway station on the First gondola, the following morning. Sure enough they showed up at 9:00 sharp so we got an early start to the flying day. There were two teenage girls interested in tandem flights and we had only one tandem glider so Bruce Tracy and I talked it over and decided that I would take the first flight with one of the girls and then Bruce would take the second flight.

The two girls appeared nervous when we arrived at the First launch area and they talked among themselves about who would fly first. Finally Julia said, "I'll go first" and it was settled. Conditions were light but we launched easily in a 5 mph uphill puff and flew over to the Waldspitz where the lift had been the most consistent on previous days. It was late morning by then and the first thermals of the day helped keep us aloft for a while, but the thermals were small and inconsistent so after about 20 minutes we sunk out and flew over the town of Grindelwald and landed in the Grund LZ alongside John Olson. On the gondola ride back up to the First launch Julia told us how she and her family had been coming to Grindelwald for many years and she had always wanted to go paragliding but this was the first time she had the opportunity.

Back on launch I traded gliders with Bruce, he got the Flight Design Twin 2 and I got his Advance Omega 5. Bruce took Christina on the second tandem flight of the day and by that time the thermals were bigger and more plentiful so they were able to get higher and stay up longer than Julia and I. Meanwhile I took off on the Omega 5 and had a delightful time getting to 10,150' MSL (3,350' over launch) and doing a little out and return to the Schwarzhorn at the upper (eastern) end of the Grindelwald valley. My radio batteries died during the flight, but I figured that Bruce would eventually show up at launch and want his glider back so I top landed after an hour and waited for him.

By mid-afternoon Bruce was back and we traded gliders again, this time he got the Omega 5 and I got my Windtech Quarx. After launching for my third flight of the day I was pleased to find that the thermals were even better than before and cloudbase had moved up to around 11,000'. This time I flew to the Waldspitz and climbed out over the Rötihorn (that's the real name of a peak above Grindelwald, I'm not making it up) and at 10,300' I flew north over the ridge separating the Grindelwald valley from the Interlaken valley. After leaving the ridge and turning west I was over the beautiful blue-green Brienzer See, ahead of me was Interlaken, and beyond that the Thuner See. There was no lift over the Brienzer See, but altitude wasn't a problem and I arrived over Interlaken with more than a mile of air beneath my feet. It was tempting to continue west to Beatenberg and the Niederhorn (two other flying sites located above the Thuner See), but by then it was late afternoon and I was starting to think about getting back to Grindelwald for dinner with the group so I stayed near Interlaken and toured the hills above town.

Eventually I landed in the large park in the center of Interlaken (it's the local LZ) and as I was folding up I found out that Bruce, Tina Pavelic and Mike Steed had followed me from Grindelwald and would soon be landing in Interlaken too. The four of us packed up and walked to the train station, where we learned that the next train to Grindelwald departed in one minute. A quick sprint left us winded but happy on the ride back, sharing our stories of fun and adventure in the sky that day.

When we got off the train in Grindelwald John drove a van down from the Berghaus Bort and got us back there just in time for dinner. Later in the evening we were invited to the cabin where our German friends were staying and they rewarded us with beer and wine for taking the girls on tandem flights. There was singing and merriment, but mostly I remember that the warm glow on the faces around me was matched by the alpenglow on the Eiger across the valley as the sun went down that evening. It was a fitting end to a magical day.